Dog Friendly Travel

4Knines Dog Seat Covers – Don’t Leave Home without Them

Charlie enjoying a ride in our new Subaru!
Written by Kevin Sando

If we have learned one thing about traveling with dogs over the years it’s that you need to be ready for just about anything. Let’s face it – dogs are messy and they tend to get into things!

Today is the first installment in our series of pet travel essentials – and we are going to start with your vehicle itself – and how to protect it from whatever your dog can throw at it.

Our dogs love going for a car ride in the Subaru Impreza - Large backseat and great window access!

Take a moment and think about how much dog hair and drool winds up in your car after a quick trip to the park or vet. Now imagine the messes you will encounter after spending some serious time in the car – where your dog will potentially be eating, sleeping and dragging in all sorts of dirt and debris from their adventures…

Luckily we have the perfect solution to keep your car clean on any road trip with dogs

The 4knines bench seat cover in a Subaru Impreza

Introducing 4Knines Dog Seat Covers

4Knines is a manufacturer of premium seat covers, designed specifically with dogs in mind. Their covers are waterproof, easy to install, and easy to clean. 4Knines also includes features like a non slip backing, seat anchors, and headrest straps to keep them firmly in place – hugely important for a moving dog.


Another aspect that truly sets 4Knines apart from their peers is the look. Their covers are available in multiple sizes and colors with a quilted design that in no way detracts from your cars’ interior.

Installing a seat cover from 4Knines is simple and takes only a minute.

We have been using their cargo cover and rear bench seat cover for over a year and simply could not be happier. When it came time to pack for our recent dog friendly road trip, we knew there was no way that we would be traveling without them! We reached out to see if 4Knines was interested in becoming our official vehicle protection sponsor and we were thrilled to get them on board (literally)!

Showing off the hammock style orientation of our 4Knines bench seat cover.

Choosing and Protecting our Rental Car

Whether you want to avoid putting the mileage on your own vehicle or could use some extra space, a rental car is a great option for your road trip. We were looking for a little bit of both since our SUV is getting up there in miles and we really wanted a third row for all of our gear. The caveat… if you want to avoid an additional cleaning fee, you need to leave no trace behind! This of course is easier said than done.

Pet Friendly Rental Car Companies

Believe it or not, several of the major car rental companies do allow dogs. After a great deal of searching around, we decided to go with Avis, who has no additional pet fee. We rented a Chrysler Town & Country (which we would highly recommend for those traveling with dogs) and decided to bring along both of our 4Knines seat covers to help keep it clean. 

Harley and Charlie admiring the view from the van while riding through Grand Teton National Park.

Prepping for our Road Trip

Below we are going to let you know how we chose to utilize these seat covers on our road trip and of course how well they performed!

Using the 4Knines Cargo Cover 

While the Knines Cargo cover is designed for use in an SUV, we decided to improvise a bit to use it in our rental van -where the trunk area is much too small for our dogs to fit! We folded down the middle seats into the floor, and found that the cargo cover was perfectly sized to fit the entire area. The buckles and straps made it a breeze to secure to the base of the front and rear seats. The cargo cover even has built in side flaps which we folded up the bottom of the walls. This layout gave us a ton of space for storage on the floor, plus allowed us to create a cozy nest area for a dog bed and just enough room for the dogs to stretch their legs when needed.

Rear Bench Seat Cover

After getting the floor all situated, we used the 4Knines bench seat cover to protect the back seat. This fit just as well in the van as it does in my car. Since it is hammock style there was also plenty of extra material to fold onto the floor in front of the seat.

At this point we had every surface that the boys would be coming into contact with well protected!

4Knines Performance – How Did it Go?

At 2 weeks and over 6,000 miles, protecting our vehicle was a monumental task. Aside from the long hours on the road we would be visiting State and National Parks across the USA. All of this adventuring was bound to introduce a great deal of mud and dirt along the way!

Comfort

As you can see, comfort was no issue at all. The boys fought over the back seat for the majority of the trip – and sometimes even shared it (much to our chagrin). The quilted fabric proved to be quite cozy for these 2 Golden boys.

Harley and Charlie cuddling in the backseat

Protection

Even though the dogs had spent the majority of the past 2 weeks in the van, when we folded up our 4Knines covers there was practically no mess left behind. Even we were surprised at how well they worked containing their mess. As anyone with dogs knows, their hair has a way to make its way into just about anywhere, whether you think it was protected or not.

We were amazed at how clean our vehicle was after taking out our seat and floor covers. There was no golden hair underneath!

We were also very pleased to see that the tough material protected the leather seat in the back from accidental punctures or tears due to sharp nails!

Shaking out our seat covers after our huge road trip.

Shaking out our seat covers after the trip!

We encountered our fair share of spills over the course of the trip from food and water to mud and drool. Thankfully, none of these penetrated the waterproof fabric, or proved a hassle to clean. A damp rag was all that was needed to get the cover looking good as new.

It was also great having enough confidence in 4Knines to avoid freaking out in these situations!

4Knines Dog Seat Covers are the first in our series of pet travel essentials.

Why MyDogLikes 4Knines Seat Covers

Whether you are traveling in your own vehicle or a rental car, you will want to make sure it is protected. The last thing you need upon returning home is to be hit with a major cleaning or damage fee. Protecting your vehicle with a quality set of seat and floor covers like these is a breeze and provides massive peace of mind.

4Knines dog seat covers are worth every cent and we wouldn’t dare travel without them.

Click here to browse 4Knines Covers on Amazon!

About the author

Kevin Sando

Kevin is a mechanical engineer with a degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology. He has move than a decade experience in new product design, prototyping and early stage manufacturing. Pairing this background with his love of dogs, gives him a unique perspective to evaluate the design and execution of new and interesting pet products.

8 Comments

  • PERFECT post!! Really useful and detail. You cannot imagine how happy I am now by finding out this post. Two things I love most is comfort and protection. Thanks a lot for sharing, dear.

  • Though it takes a lot of time to prepare before a trip, I’ve been always taken my dogs together with me in every journey. Btw, thank you for sharing these useful tips! I will try them for our next summer vacation!

  • That looks amazing. It will help us a lot in keeping our car clean and helping our dogs feel better. Thanks for sharing. Thumbs up!

  • Hi, Looks like a good product. Might be a great way to keep the beach sand out of my car.
    Thanks, happy travelling!

  • I’m using this product and I’m very pleased with it. I have five dogs and this product is exactly what i need for my car. No more worry about my dog dirtying the car or being hurt when going through bumpy roads !!